The ACC tabbed four Virginia athletes for weekly awards Tuesday. Honorees included redshirt junior wrestler Joe Spisak, sophomore lacrosse player James Pannell, junior JB Kolod of the men’s swim and dive team and freshman swimmer Leah Smith.
The conference named the No. 16 Spisak the ACC Wrestler of the Week for the second time in his career after he won both of his weekend matches to move to 18-10 on the year.
Friday against North Carolina, Spisak upset fourth-ranked junior Evan Henderson, 4-0, for his third win this season against an All-American. Spisak followed up the victory two days later by defeating North Carolina State sophomore Sam Speno, 3-1. Virginia won both matches, 21-9 against the Tar Heels and 22-10 against the Wolfpack.
Pannell was named ACC Offensive Player of the Week after the sophomore attackman tallied eight goals and two assists in the No. 7 Cavaliers’ season-opening victories against Loyola and Richmond.
Pannell assisted on sophomore midfielder Ryan Tucker’s game-tying goal with 0.1 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime Thursday night against No. 12 Loyola and scored his fourth goal minutes later to win the game, 14-13. Pannell then tallied the last two goals of the Cavaliers’ Saturday win at Richmond to break an 11-11 tie in the fourth quarter and hand the Spiders a loss in their inaugural Division I game.
Kolod received his first ACC Male Diver of the Week honor of the season after winning both the one-meter and three-meter diving events in the Virginia men’s 179-112 win against Pittsburgh, his hometown school. Kolod’s three-meter score of 428.10 broke both Virginia program and Aquatic and Fitness Center pool records.
After posting the nation’s fastest time and setting school and AFC pool records in the 1,000-yard free at 9:33.29, Smith won her second ACC Female Swimmer of the Week award. Also from Pittsburgh, Pa., Smith led the Virginia women to a 189-103 victory against the Panthers last weekend, swimming in the 200-yard fly and 200-yard IM as well.
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